STAR WARS Episode Two and a Half: Hatred
by Draco-Malfoy8
Summary: A few months have passed since Attack of the Clones. Padme Amidala is once again the target of someone. Anakin is full of hatred & is drawn closer to the dark side. Much too close & he's not yet a Jedi Knight, but has already found the perfect apprentice.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars or any characters you recognize from previous Star Wars movies and books. I have no connection with anyone involved in the Star Wars movies, either. I did make up Yelen, though.  
  
Chapter 1: The Fourth Attempt  
  
Nute Gunray stood on the balcony of a very old and abandoned house, in a very quiet and less populated area on the planet and city of Coruscant. It was a cold, but cloudless night. Twinkling stars dotted the night sky as the Neimoidian's keen red eyes gazed out, obviously looking for something. There was a sudden crash as a garbage can in an alley nearby was knocked over. He gave a start, and saw a cat running away.  
  
Nute Gunray shivered. It was indeed very cold, especially since he was wearing a fine red silk robe with golden lines sewn in intricate designs looping and swirling about all over the place like kites caught in a wind.  
  
Suddenly, he noticed a dark figure on a speeder zooming toward him. The red eyes gave the machine a glance and noticed that it was rusty and very filthy. There were oil stains all over it and the paint in some parts were chipped, revealing the metal underneath.  
  
A few seconds later, the speeder had landed and the cloaked figure aboard it climbed out and walked over to the impatient Neimoidian.  
  
"Viceroy," the creature greeted in a husky, deep, but calm voice.  
  
"Yelen," Nute Gunray replied. "Shall we get down to business?"  
  
"Of course Viceroy," the creature said as he motioned inside the house. "Shall we sit down Your Honor?"  
  
The Viceroy snorted at the creature's words, but he agreed to go in and sit down in the dusty and tattered armchairs probably torn up by a baby nexu.  
  
"Viceroy," Yelen began taking off the hood of his cloak and revealing a hideous face when they had settled into the armchairs. "Of what of my services may I offer you? You are a new customer."  
  
"Well." Nute Gunray paused. "I am fed up with Senator Amidala and I want her dead!"  
  
"Vicious aren't you, Your Honor?" the cloaked figure said.  
  
"Stop that nonsense like 'Your Honor' and get on with it!" Nute Gunray growled.  
  
"Okay then, how am I supposed to kill this Senator Amidala?"  
  
"I don't care! Poison her! Drown her! Take a blaster and shoot her! I don't care how you kill her! I just want her dead!" Nute Gunray screamed waving his hands in the air and walking in circles as he spoke. He was lucky that most of the humans and creatures living near the abandoned house slept like the dead. If they didn't, then the rest of them hated the ponderous, stupid Republic and everybody involved with it in their opinion and didn't have a care in the galaxy if anyone talked ill of the Senate.  
  
"I have a better idea Viceroy," Yelen said with an evil smirk.  
  
"Well get on with it! I don't have all day you know!"  
  
"Actually Viceroy, we have only been talking for a few minute and it is nighttime," Yelen corrected.  
  
"Who cares what time it is," the Viceroy said. "I just want to know how you plan to kill Amidala!"  
  
"Here's the information then. I kidnap her in the dead of night next week and take her to Geonosis. There, I will make her divulge all her plans and then kill her with a toxic dart and bring her back to her home and try to make it look like she committed suicide," Yelen announced with a calm tone and look.  
  
"Kidnap Senator Amidala and take her back to Geonosis? Then bring her back and make it look like she committed suicide? Are you a complete lunatic or are you out of your mind!" Nute Gunray yelled. "THAT WILL NOT WORK!"  
  
"I thought that was a good plan," Yelen replied obviously hurt. "And I think with me and somebody else to do it, we might pull it off and Senator Amidala would be on Geonosis this time next week and the person I'll be working with is a S-"  
  
"I don't care!" the enraged Viceroy interrupted. "This is not going to work because I am working with a lunatic who wants to kidnap a very important senator and bring her to Geonosis and then bring her back to Coruscant and make it look like she committed suicide! No! No! No! You are not doing it because you will fail! I will not pay a great quantity of credits for you to carry out a far-fetched plan as that! Do you hear me, you excuse for a slimy gob of grease?! "  
  
"I promise you, Viceroy, I will not fail," Yelen said with a determined, but calm look and tone, brushing aside the insult Nute Gunray had just thrown at him.  
  
"YOU WILL FAIL!" the out-of-control Viceroy screamed as he slammed his fist down on the fragile glass table set between the calm bounty hunter and the enraged Viceroy. As fist met table, the table collapsed in a heap under the strain and force of the Viceroy's hand. Glass shattered everywhere covering the already cantankerous Neimoidian, and the cloaked figure sitting in the armchair facing him.  
  
Yelen stood up and locked eyes with the enraged Viceroy who was screaming with fury. "I promise you, Viceroy, I will not fail," he repeated with the same calm tone and look.  
  
"And why is that?" the Viceroy sneered lowering his tone as his red eyes flashed, but not breaking the eye contact.  
  
"Because I never fail." Yelen replied calmly.  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Really."  
  
"And are you sure?"  
  
"Positive."  
  
"What if I find someone better than you?"  
  
"You won't, Your Honor."  
  
"What if I do? What would you do?" the Nute Gunray taunted.  
  
"Is that a challenge, Your Honor?" the bounty hunter asked his calm tone and look slipping a bit, but he immediately mustered them back together.  
  
"What do you think? Is that a challenge, Your Honor?" the Viceroy mimicked turning the bounty hunter's words back on him.  
  
Yelen ignored the Neimoidian and told him what he had planned to say before he was interrupted. "I will be working with a Sith Lord who wants Amidala dead. He has already agreed to my plan and demands for you to approve and I assure you Viceroy, he will not be pleased if you don't because after all, you know of the power of the Sith. You've worked with them before? Haven't you? "  
  
"How do you know if I've worked with them!" Nute Gunray demanded, but there was an edge of uneasiness in his voice that Yelen could not miss.  
  
"Well, Your Honor," the bounty hunter answered. "The Sith Lord has told me about you. This isn't your first attempt of trying to assassinate Senator Amidala. You tried to kill her on her way to Coruscant for the vote of the creation of an army for the Republic. Second time were the deadly kouhuns, the centipedelike creations that almost killed Amidala while she slept, but Anakin Skywalker stopped them. Third was the Battle at Geonosis, which has begun the Clone Wars, in my opinion. This is your fourth attempt to kill her, I believe."  
  
"Fine then," Nute Gunray agreed uneasily. "You can go on with this plan of yours and I will wait and hope it has gone right. If it has, but I doubt it will, we will negotiate a time and place for us to meet so you may collect the other half of your credits after I know that Amidala is dead."  
  
"Thank you, Viceroy," Yelen answered with a bow as he slipped his hood on, so it covered his face.  
  
Nute Gunray reached into his pocket and took out a handful of credits and presented them to the bounty hunter. Yelen swept them up in an instant and stuffed them inside his cloak.  
  
"Be off now and let me be," the Viceroy ordered.  
  
"Thank you and good night, Your Honor," Yelen said with a bow.  
  
"Dismissed," the Neimoidian said and Yelen walked quickly to his speeder.  
  
"One more thing bounty hunter," Nute Gunray called to the cloaked figure as it climbed abroad the speeder. "Blowing who hired you to do this job if you are captured, and I think you will be, will hurt even more than failing!"  
  
The cloaked bounty hunter nodded, started up the speeder and sailed off into the night. Killing and tricking were way too easy he thought. It was such a pity that he had to use the Sith and Darth Sidious to trick the stubborn Viceroy into agreeing. The Viceroy was a stupid one indeed. If the Neimoidian had listened closely, he would have realized that it was odd that a Sith Lord would demand for him to approve of a plan for the death of Senator Amidala when no one knew about him wanting Senator Amidala dead at this moment. The Viceroy had been worrying about the Sith and Darth Sidious, so the thought had slipped his mind. After all, the Sith had nothing to do with this because Yelen always worked alone. Always.  
  
Behind the stairs of the house, a teenage girl stood listening with one hand on her lightsaber as the Viceroy was picked up by some sort of vehicle on the balcony above the stairs. It was clear to her that Senator Padmé Amidala was in danger. Grave danger, and it was up to her to do something about it, but first she had to report this to her Master. 


	2. What a Tube of Hot Pepper Powder Can Do ...

Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars or any characters you recognize from previous Star Wars movies and books. I have no connection with anyone involved in the Star Wars movies, either. I did make up Yelen, though.  
  
Chapter 2: What a Tube of Hot Pepper Powder Can Do in the Hands of Anakin Skywalker  
  
Anakin Skywalker at age 20, was a very mischievous and reckless Jedi Padawan under the training of Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Many of the Jedi believed Anakin to be the chosen one. A very long time ago, an ancient Jedi prophecy was made. It was said that one day, one would be born who would bring balance to the Force and many believed that was Anakin.  
  
The reckless Padawan was right now, peering around a corner of a building watching his mentor, Obi-Wan, eating a piece of apple pie. Anakin grinned as he took out a little tube of hot pepper powder that looked like cinnamon, from inside his Jedi robes and poured a little bit into his left hand. He read the label. It said in red letters "CAUTION: For pranks on people. When the victim's mouth produces flames, put it out quickly by having him/her down at least 5 bottles of ice cold glacier water." His grin widened even more when Obi-Wan turned his way and looked at him with a scowl.  
  
Anakin strolled over to his mentor with an air of calmness and a cocky grin that Obi-Wan did not like. He knew that something was up, but he didn't know what.  
  
"Hello," Anakin greeted as he came up beside Obi-Wan.  
  
"Anakin, how many times have I told you that it is not polite to stare at someone," Obi-Wan lectured without a greeting. "If you really have to, then try to make it look less obvious."  
  
"I wasn't obvious," the Padawan replied grinning mischievously.  
  
"Why are you doing that?" Obi-Wan asked.  
  
"Doing what Master?"  
  
"You know exactly what I'm talking about Anakin," Obi-Wan answered with a glare at his young Padawan.  
  
"Oh that!" Anakin exclaimed pointing at his mischievous grin. "Oh! Well. um. I just thought of a good joke!"  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes Master. You see." Anakin began with a wave of his left hand letting the little red pepper specks drift on to Obi-Wan's pie without him noticing. "It is very funny."  
  
"Why don't you tell me then," Obi-Wan suggested suspiciously. When Anakin didn't respond, Obi-Wan followed his apprentice's gaze to his pie. He stared at his snack and saw a bunch of red specks on it.  
  
"That's weird," Obi-Wan said.  
  
"Huh?" the startled Padawan asked jerked back into reality by Obi-Wan's words.  
  
"This piece of pie," Obi-Wan answered. "I could have sworn there weren't any red specks on it before I bought it."  
  
Anakin hid his smile inside and replied very seriously. "It was probably just your eyes playing tricks on you before you bought it, Master."  
  
"You're probably right," his mentor agreed brushing some of the red stuff off his pie and loading his fork.  
  
Anakin nodded. Watching Obi-Wan bring his fork with some pie to his mouth with a bunch of red specks sitting on the pie was killing him. He doubled up on the ground and tried to hide his laughter with a moan.  
  
Obi-Wan set his pie down and bent down to Anakin. "Anakin, what's wrong?" he asked.  
  
Anakin seeing his mentor so worried about him decided to tell what was happening. "Don't yeast dee pipe!" he managed to gasp out before a burst of laughter issued from him.  
  
"What?" Obi-Wan asked. "Speak up Anakin!"  
  
"Don't. Don't yeast-" But Anakin could not get the rest of the sentence out because he was clutching his stomach and howling with laughter.  
  
Obi-Wan shook Anakin hard. "Anakin!" He exclaimed. "What is wrong with you?"  
  
The reply came followed by laughter. "Don't yeast dee pipe!"  
  
The anxious Obi-Wan did the exact opposite of what Anakin said. He ate the pie. A few seconds went by and Obi-Wan stood there chewing the pie. The next few seconds were filled with Obi-Wan hopping around with his mouth open, gulping down air and screaming for water. The Padawan sat up fascinated as a burst of flames issued and danced on Obi-Wan's tongue. Anakin suddenly realized that if no actions were taken, Obi-Wan's throat would catch on fire disabling any way of speech or swallowing.  
  
He got up suddenly worried and ran into the nearest bar to buy water.  
  
"What do want?" the bartender asked Anakin.  
  
"Five bottles of ice cold glacier water, please."  
  
"We ain't got no glacier water that's cold. If you want hot glacier water, it's free." the bartender motioned to the steaming, metal tub next to him.  
  
"No thanks," Anakin said wrinkling his nose.  
  
He raced out of the bar and ran into another one, and then another, but it seemed not one of the bars had ice cold glacier water. After 10 minutes, Anakin raced into a restaurant that had a neon sign that read Céline's Café.  
  
"Waddya want sonny?" the bartender there asked Anakin. He had a rather large stomach, big flapping ears and two pairs of arms and two legs.  
  
"Five bottles of ice cold glacier water," Anakin replied desperately, but the bartender already had the bottles sitting on the counter.  
  
"Ya can pay me later sonny," the bartender said shoving the water toward Anakin. "Go calm your friend down first. He's scaring away my customers."  
  
"How did you know?" Anakin asked curiously.  
  
"Beause I haven't got as many customers as I usually have at this hour, young Jedi."  
  
"No, No," Anakin said shaking his head. "I meant how did you know about Obi- Wan?"  
  
"Obi-Wan, eh? That's your Jedi pal's name? Funny sounding if you ask me," the bartender commented.  
  
"What kind of name do you think sounds good then?" Anakin asked.  
  
"Prackle Seepio," the bartender answered.  
  
"Threepio?" Anakin asked.  
  
"No sonny. Seepio," the bartender corrected. "Many say that it sounds like a droid's name, but it's my last name it tis. Prackle's me first. Prackle Seepio. Tis the finest name I've ever heard! What's your name?"  
  
"Anakin. Anakin Skywalker."  
  
"Anakin, eh? That's a mighty fine name. Anakin. Annnnnnakin. Anakin. Anakinny. Anakin," said Prackle Seepio trying different ways to sound out Anakin's name.  
  
"AANNNNNNNAAKKIIINNN!" That was not Prackle Seepio, but actually Obi-Wan's voice in Anakin's head calling him through the Force.  
  
"Oops," Anakin exclaimed. "I forgot about Obi-Wan!"  
  
"Better go then Anakin," Prackle Seepio said.  
  
"Thanks Prackle Seepio!" Anakin cried tearing out of the bar with the water. "I'll pay you back later!" In a few seconds, he was just a dot among the crowds.  
  
In the corner of the bar, a figure in black stood there. waiting. Something flashed in the light for a spilt second before it disappeared in the folds of cloth the figure was wearing. The figure moved along the wall as silent as a shadow never making a noise. It disappeared for a minute and then came up behind a little boy's unsuspecting back.  
  
The figure clasped its hands around the boy's mouth and the boy kicked the figure, hard. The figure let go in pain and the boy screamed. People were running to him. The figure looked around, turned into gray smoke and disappeared right into the boy's open mouth. The boy saw black and went limp, falling. always falling, to the ground.  
  
By the time Anakin had got to the place where Obi-Wan had last been, so many onlookers surrounded his mentor that he had disappeared from view.  
  
"Excuse me," Anakin said as he shoved his way past creatures and humans alike until he got to Obi-Wan. The Padawan was surprised to see a pile of bottles next to Obi-Wan and saw that his mentor was drinking a bottle of sweet shuura juice that one of the onlookers had donated. Obi-Wan finished the juice and set it in the growing pile of bottles. Anakin bent down and gave the water to him. His mentor downed all five bottles in 1 minute flat and lay down on his back no longer feeling as if his mouth was on fire.  
  
Anakin got up from Obi-Wan's side and faced the onlookers, most of them taking pictures. He knew what Obi-Wan was going to say to him next and in front of everyone if he had to, so the Padawan raised his hands bringing the weight of the force into his voice as he half-heartily announced, "Everyone go back to what you were doing. You can forget this incident."  
  
The onlookers stared as Obi-Wan got to his feet. He clapped his hands several times and brought the weight of the force into his voice and said loud and clear, "Nothing happened. You can leave now. Go back to what you were doing before."  
  
Gradually, the onlookers parted and went their separate ways leaving Anakin with the seething Obi-Wan. Anakin expected a line of curses and lectures to come his way and winced, but Obi-Wan just grabbed Anakin roughly by the arm and dragged him off in the direction of a speeder.  
  
Anakin trudged along half-heartily, but silently behind his mentor, his head hanging downward. Obi-Wan was not in a good mood and Anakin knew to stay clear of him until he was spoken to.  
  
"Get in," Obi-Wan said curtly as they approached the speeder.  
  
Though his mentor was not speaking to him directly, but instead facing the other way, Anakin thought he could picture how Obi-Wan's face looked. Angry, and scowling. The Padawan got into the yellow speeder not looking at his Master. Obi-Wan got into the driver seat and took off, piloting the craft to the Jedi Temple. 


End file.
